Ecology

Essential Understandings for Ecology:

• Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment.

• Ecology explores and studies the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them.

• An ecosystem is a community or group of living organisms that live in and interact with each other in a specific environment. For example, tropical forests are ecosystems made up of living beings such as trees, plants, animals, insects and micro-organisms that are in constant interaction between themselves and that are affected by other physical (sun, temperature) or chemical (oxygen or nutrients) components.

• Energy is transferred between organisms in food webs, from producers to consumers in an ecosystem. The energy is used by organisms to carry out the complex tasks of life. The vast majority of energy that exists in food webs originates from the sun and is converted (transformed) into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis in plants.

• An ecosystem service is any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provide to people. There are 4 types of ecosystem services:

  1. A provisioning service is is any type of benefit to people that can be extracted from nature. Along with food, other types of provisioning services include drinking water, timber, wood fuel, natural gas, oils, plants that can be made into clothes and other materials, and medicinal benefits.

  2. A regulating service is the benefit provided by ecosystem processes that moderate natural phenomena. Regulating services include pollination, decomposition, water purification, erosion and flood control, and carbon storage and climate regulation.

  3. A cultural service is a non-material benefit that contributes to the development and cultural advancement of people, including how ecosystems play a role in all cultures; the building of knowledge and the spreading of ideas; creativity born from interactions with nature (music, art, architecture); and recreation.

  4. Supporting services are the basic foundational services that couldn't be sustained without the consistency of underlying natural processes, such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, the creation of soils, and the water cycle.